Mass Religious Ritual and Intergroup Tolerance
The Muslim Pilgrims' Paradox

This book develops a new theory of the conditions under which in-group pride can facilitate out-group tolerance.

Mikhail A. Alexseev (Author), Sufian N. Zhemukhov (Author)

9781107191853, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 July 2017

240 pages
23.6 x 15.7 x 1.9 cm, 0.47 kg

'In this unusual book two co-authors with different academic, cultural, and religious backgrounds set out to directly explore the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage, a major collective ritual practiced by humans. They go beyond the classical Durkheimian insight that rituals generate social solidarity and demonstrate, empirically as we as theoretically, that such solidarity could even transcend the boundaries of religion itself.' Georgi Derluguian, New York University, Abu Dhabi

Under what conditions does in-group pride facilitate out-group tolerance? What are the causal linkages between intergroup tolerance and socialization in religious rituals? This book examines how Muslims from Russia's North Caucuses returned from the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca both more devout as Muslims and more tolerant of out-groups. Drawing on prominent theories of identity and social capital, the authors resolve seeming contradictions between the two literatures by showing the effects of religious rituals that highlight within-group diversity at the same time that they affirm the group's common identity. This theory is then applied to explain why social integration of Muslim immigrants has been more successful in the USA than in Europe and how the largest Hispanic association in the US defied the clash of civilizations theory by promoting immigrants' integration into America's social mainstream. The book offers insights into Islam's role in society and politics and the interrelationships between religious faith, immigration and ethnic identity, and tolerance that will be relevant to both scholars and practitioners.

Introduction
Part I. The Pilgrims' Paradox: 1. Russia's North Caucasus: the State, the Hajj, and the revival of the sacred
2. The paths of the paradox: from passion to tolerance
3. The Hajj as social identity and social capital
Part II. The Hajj Model of Social Tolerance: 4. Repositioning or the axis mundi effect
5. Recategorization
6. Repersonalization
Part III. Beyond the Hajj: 7. Islam's social spaces: Europe vs the United States
8. The la raza axis: Hispanic integration in North America
9. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP], Islamic studies [JFSR2], Society & social sciences [J]